Morning Briefing: Fed meeting begins, Brexit fears grow

Morning Briefing: Fed meeting begins, Brexit fears grow

Fed meeting begins, Brexit fears grow
Central bank meetings in the US and Japan are in focus Tuesday along with growing concern over potential recession in Europe if the UK votes to leave the bloc.

The Fed is not widely expected to increase interest rates; June was seen as a key possibility for the first rise of the year however weaker recent data is likely to see a postponement – September is the timing many analysts are forecasting.
The Bank of Japan will begin its meeting Wednesday with expectation of a change from current policy. Asian markets closed mostly lower with Shanghai bucking the trend.

European markets are lower so far and are expected to be cautious until after the Brexit vote on June 23. The uncertainty is also impacting government bonds.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open lower.

Latest

1 month ago

1 year ago

North America (previous session)

US Dow Jones

17,732.48 (-0.74 per cent)

+1.12 per cent

-0.93 per cent

TSX Composite

13,993.88 (-0.31 per cent)

+1.78 per cent

-5.07 per cent

Europe (at 5.30am ET)

UK FTSE (previous)

5,963.01 (-1.36 per cent)

-2.86 per cent

-12.11 per cent

German DAX

9,526.55 (-1.36 per cent)

-4.28 per cent

-14.91 per cent

Asia (at close)

China CSI 300

3,075.98 (+0.31 per cent)

+0.03 per cent

-42.34 per cent

Japan Nikkei

15,859.00 (-1.00 per cent)

-3.37 per cent

-22.29 per cent

Other Data (at 5.30am ET)

Oil (Brent)

Oil (WTI)

Gold

Can. Dollar

49.79
(-1.11 per cent)

48.23
(-1.33 per cent)

1282.50
(+0.34 per cent)

U$0.7778

Aus. Dollar

U$0.7334

IEA expects balanced oil market
The International Energy Agency says that there was a “significant” drop in the supply of oil in May – the first since 2013. The agency said that it expects the second half of 2016 to be a balanced market with the growth in demand of 1.3 million barrels per day this year and in 2017.

Supply has eased, the IEA says, to 95.4 million barrels per day, 590,000 barrels down from a year earlier. However, the agency acknowledged that the large disrupted supplies from Nigeria and Libya could return to the market later in the year.